Sail or Die supplies you with 15 points and a handful of cards. You want to keep the points and ditch the cards.
Underneath the dense canopy of the Pacific Northwest rainforests, a thriving ecosystem exists. Schools of salmon swim upstream, wildflowers and lush ferns dot the mossy floor, and a gray wolf looks for its next meal. In Canopy: Evergreen, players compete to grow the tallest trees, collect sets of wild plants, and create bountiful habitats to help native animals thrive.
In the game, players take turns selecting new cards for their forest from three growth piles. Each time you look at a pile, you may select it and add those cards to your rainforest tableau, or return the pile face down, adding one additional card to it. As the piles grow, you must search for the plants and animals that will benefit your forest the most — but choose carefully as mingled in with the flora and fauna are dangers in the form of fire, disease, and drought. After three seasons, the player who has grown the most bountiful rainforest wins!
Canopy: Evergreen is a standalone game featuring card drafting and set collection similar to the original Canopy game, with new rules for collecting food, growing trees on your forest board to gain permanent bonuses, and nourishing interactive wildlife. Get lost in the evergreen forest with new plants, animals, and environmentally-friendly 3D tree tokens that grow while you play the game!
I recently attended Lobster Trap, an annual invitation-only convention held just north of Boston. I’ve been going to this convention since it started many years ago with just a few people getting together in a friend’s art studio; it’s now 100 plus people in a hotel ballroom. While it has grown, it is still a friendly event that is just big enough to feel like a convention but not so big that you can’t see everyone. It starts on Wednesday and goes through Sunday. Unfortunately for various reasons my time was limited to just 3 days this time around, but I managed to play 15 games with 19 people in that short time. Here are some of my highlights. Continue reading
OK, as the end of the year gets close, it’s time to start thinking about all those gift-giving opportunities that are also approaching… While most of the gift guides will post closer to Thanksgiving and the weekend after, I wanted to start with this earlier post due to the time sensitive nature of Advent Calendars. Â
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Advent calendars are a well-entrenched tradition in Germany. Each October when I head to Essen for SPIEL, the stores are already jammed packed with Advent calendars of all types. The first printed Advent calendar originated in Germany in the early 20th century with Gerhard Lang. When Gerhard was a little boy his mother made him a calendar with 24 small candies attached to cardboard, one for each day before Christmas. Lang grew up to operate the Reichhold & Lang printing company where he printed the first Advent cardboard calendar with 24 little pictures. A few years later, the company printed the first calendar with the little doors that everyone loves to open. The first chocolate Advent calendar appeared in 1958, but it was in 1971 that Cadbury joined the race and launched its own version in the UK. Cadbury produced Advent calendars intermittently from 1972 to 1986, but it wasn’t until 1993 that they finally became a mainstay.
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There’s still time to place and order and receive an Advent Calendar to start by December 1!
We’ve Reviewed a number of these calendars, so you can also click on the links to read those.
Gaming Advent Calendars (to post real soon)
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More coming in the next week or so!
After the big earthquake of 1755 that tore down Lisbon and most of Portugal’s southern coast, it was necessary to rebuild an entire nation. The demand for window glass increased so much that William Stephens, a British businessman, saw the opportunity to expand his business in Portugal by investing in the glass industry.
In Stephens, players compete amongst one another in the role of master glassmakers working at the famous “Stephens” Factory to become the most prestigious figure in town…after Stephens, of course. Through clever and cunning planning, all players will develop their works, invest in new businesses, and promote the creation of jobs. Through a unique action-selection mechanism, on their turn players choose from a variety of options, either by activating the Stephens factory or by activating one of their personal investments.
The game ends when the Napoleonic forces arrive in town, at which time the player with the most prestige wins.
Fishing
Designed by Friedemann Friese and published by 2F Spiele in 2024
Played four times during development and eight times in published form on a review copy provided by 2F Spiele.
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